With Poland and Slovakia now committed to transferring their MiG-29 fleets to Ukraine, Bulgaria (aircraft pictured) will face pressure to do the same. (Bulgarian Air Force)
With Poland and Slovakia having recently pledged to provide Ukraine with MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ combat aircraft, focus will now shift to Bulgaria to do the same as the only other NATO operator of the type.
Author: Michael
The 500th NH90 for the international programme was handed over to the French Army on 17 March. The programme has 97 more to deliver under current orders. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
NHIndustries delivered the 500th NH90 helicopter during a ceremony at the Marignane production facility in southern France on 17 March.
The consortium comprising Airbus Helicopters (62.5%), Leonardo (32%), and Fokker Aerostructures (5.5%) marked the milestone some 16 years after customer deliveries began, handing over the latest helicopter to the French Army.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has today signed a new law against the spread of false news about participants in military operations in Ukraine, punishing this offense with up to 15 years in prison.
The law toughens the punishment for discrediting the deployment of the Russian armed forces abroad, previously up to five years in jail. The changes make it illegal to defame volunteers and increase the maximum sentence for doing so from three to seven years.
On the heels of Poland’s announcement on Thursday, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced on Friday that Slovakia would supply its entire fleet of 13 Soviet-supplied MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, along with additional KUB air defense systems.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced that the Slovak government approved the shipment of MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine on Friday, thus stepping up its military aid to Kyiv in its fight against the Russian invasion.
Slovakia is the second country to send warplanes to Kyiv after Poland, which announced on Thursday that it would do so.
The first prototype of the new generation Turkish fighter TF-X has successfully passed a series of taxiing tests, which can be considered a historic event for the country’s aviation industry.
The TF-X prototype can be seen on the runway in a series of photos released by Turkey’s State Agency for Defense Industries. The images are believed to have been taken at Ankara’s Turkish Aerospace Industries facility.
Ismail Demir, head of the Turkish Defense Industry Agency, tweeted: We said we would take our National Fighter Plane out of the hangar on March 18. Our plane is on the runway today.
TAI
Just a day after Turkey’s home-grown stealthy fighter aircraft was seen in full prior to its official rollout, yet another ambitious Turkish air combat aircraft has officially broken cover.
The Turkish Aircraft Industries (TAI) ANKA-3 MIUS (which stands for National Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle System in Turkish) is a low-observable flying wing unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV). The aircraft is roughly the size of a light fighter and is designed as a survivable, relatively long-endurance, strike, surveillance, and electronic warfare platform.
NEW DELHI: The production of defense equipment with modern technological trends has always been challenging for most countries worldwide. This has resulted in most nations importing defense equipment to meet their domestic defense needs.
In export-oriented nations, the defense sector has become so lucrative that it has great influence over the nation’s foreign policy.
There have been occasions in which export-oriented countries in the defense equipment industry were active in launching or extending a conflict in order to maintain a robust defense export market.
A long overdue Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and ground crews.
The study focused on almost 900,000 service members who flew on or worked on military aircraft between 1992 and 2017.
The study found that as compared to the general population the air crew members had an 87% higher rate of melanoma and a 39% higher rate of thyroid cancer. Men had a 16% higher rate of prostate cancer and women a 16% higher rate of breast cancer. Overall, the air crews had a 24% higher rate of cancer of all types.
An explosion hits Baghdad on March 21, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq as hostilities between U.S. led Coalition forces and the Iraqi Regime continue. (Photo by Mirrorpix/Getty Images).
Twenty years ago today, on March 19, 2003 the war in Iraq started. American and allied forces began the war not on the ground but in the skies. What unfolded was dozens of airstrikes across Iraq targeting early warning sites and Iraqi leadership, meant to pave the way for the ground invasion that launched March 20.
As part of an agreement reached with Sweden, the British Army will receive modern artillery platforms to replace those supplied to Ukraine.
The first 14 Archer artillery systems will become the property of the British Army this month and will be fully operational next April, constituting an interim replacement for the 32 AS90 artillery systems that the United Kingdom gifted to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Designed and built by BAE Systems Bofors in Sweden, the Archer has twice the maximum range of the AS90, greater operational mobility, higher availability, and shorter time-to-action.